The duty of care owed by the Ministry of Defence "has been recognised"

The Ministry of Defence has failed in its attempts to get a negligence claim thrown out of court.

Families of Private Phillip Hewett and Corporal Stephen Allbutt claim that the MoD didn't deliver a duty of care.

In his judgment today, Lord Neuberger described the MoD’s arguments as ‘fatally flawed’ and agreed that the claims should continue.

“The duty of care owed by the MoD, as employer, to the members of the armed forces, as employees, does exist and has been recognised, without demur, by the courts. It includes a duty to provide safe systems of work and safe equipment, as I have demonstrated. There was no suggestion that the courts were ill-equipped to deal with such issues, or that the resolution of the claims would be detrimental to the troops. The question whether a duty of care owed by the MoD to armed forces should be recognised has long since been answered. There is no basis for asking it in the instant appeals”